As part of a series called Constitution Café, moderator Chris Phillips is asking some thought-provoking questions about foundational constitutional issues. This week: Was James Madison right to ask for a freedom of conscience clause in the Constitution?

Lyle Denniston looks at Americans who help shape the meaning of the Constitution in the nation’s life. Today’s Constitution-maker is Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat and the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Today marks the unofficial 25th birthday of the Internet as we know it. But now the Web’s founder is asking for a “global constitution” to protect privacy rights of people in ways that weren’t even available to be violated before the Internet began.

The 14th Amendment makes all persons born or naturalized in the United States citizens, with equal protection and due process under the law. But for American Indians, the amendment immediately excluded most of them, and it took decades to make full citizenship a reality.

Julia Angwin of Pro Publica discusses with the National Constitution Center’s Jeffrey Rosen how the government, private companies, and even criminals use technology to indiscriminately sweep up vast amounts of our personal data.

Fugitive NSA leaker Edward Snowden told an audience in Texas on Monday, via a remote livestream from Russia, that he took a treasure trove of information about the NSA because he took an oath to defend the Constitution.